Adherence of the Annals of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing

Article information

Ann Pediatr Endocrinol Metab. 2018;23(1):1-3
Publication date (electronic) : 2018 March 22
doi : https://doi.org/10.6065/apem.2018.23.1.1
Department of Parasitology and Institute of Medical Education, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea
Address for correspondence: Sun Huh, MD https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8559-8640 Department of Parasitology and Institute of Medical Education, Hallym Universit y College of Medicine, 1 Hallimdaehak-gil, Chuncheon 24252, Korea Tel: +82-33-248-2652 Fax: +82-33-241-1672 E-mail: shuh@hallym.ac.kr
Received 2018 March 10; Accepted 2018 March 12.

It was a great honor to be invited as an Ethics Editor by Dr. Ji-Eun Lee, an Editor-in-Chief of the Annals of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism (the official journal of the Korean Society of Pediatric Endocrinology) and to submit an article on the ethics policy of this journal. I was very happy to have the opportunity to reflect on the ethics policy of this esteemed journal. Strict compliance with international standard of publication ethics is mandatory for all scholarly journals. Therefore, in this editorial, I review whether the recent content of the journal complies with standards of publication ethics.

Principles of transparency and best practice in scholarly publishing

The Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (joint statement by Committee on Publication Ethics, Directory of Open Access Journals, World Association of Medical Editors, and Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association) [1] is the most popular international standard of publication ethics and will be employed in this editorial. The principles consist of 16 items, each of which will be reviewed for journal compliance.

Elsevier also announced the "publication ethics and malpractice statement requirements" in June 2015 [2], which includes 10 items: (1) editorial board, (2) authors and authors responsibilities, (3) peer-review process, (4) publication ethics including guidelines for retracting or correcting articles and publication of corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies, (5) copyright and access, (6) archiving, (7) ownership and management, (8) web site, (9) publishing schedule, and (10) name of journal. Those 10 items are already included in the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing [1].

The results are summarized in Table 1. All aspects of the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing were fulfilled by this journal.

Compliance of the Annals of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (joint statement by COPE, DOAJ, WAME, and OASPA; http://doaj.org/bestpractice) [1]

Institutional review board and informed consent

Aside from the above Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, informed consent and institutional review board (IRB) approval for human subjects or human-originating materials research is well described at the journal homepage and in the print version. These 2 components are mandatory for medical journals according to Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals [3]. The compliance of the journal was screened for issues published in 2017 (volume 22).

The number of original articles published in 2017 was 18. The results regarding IRB approval and receipt of informed consent are presented in Table 2. All subjects of original articles were human. Out of 18 articles, there were 15 chart reviews, 3 cross-sectional observational studies, 1 cohort study, and 1 online survey. Although informed consent was not described in IRB-approved studies, it was presumed to have been obtained because the need for informed consent is addressed prior to IRB approval. Usually, the need for informed consent was waived in retrospective chart review studies. If a study is not a clinical interventional study or does not include an identifiable photo of the subject, informed consent can be waived by the IRB. It would be better to confirm IRB approval and waiver of informed consent in all human subject chart review studies.

Institutional review board (IRB) approval, receipt of informed consent, and study design of the original articles published in the Annals of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism in 2017

There is an article in the Annals of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism that analyzed data from the 10th Korea Youth Risk Behavior web-based survey conducted in 2014 by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Korean Government [4]. IRB approval was waived for this survey according to the "enforcement rule of bioethics and safety act" available from: http://www.law.go.kr/LSW/lsInfoP.do?lsiSeq=184877#0000, which excludes "a study conducted by the state or local governments directly or contractively to review and assess public welfare or service programs" from this need for approval of human subject research. The authorized statistical number of the Korean Government was 117058 (2005.09.30), which was provided by authors upon editor's request. The authors received response data only, without personal identification.

In conclusion, the Annals of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism adheres to the international standards of research and publication according to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing and the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. I am happy to confirm the journal's ethical policy and strong enforcement by the editorial team.

Notes

Conflict of interest: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

References

1. Directory of Open Access Journal. Principles of transparency and best practice in scholarly publishing (joint statement by COPE, DOAJ, WAME, and OASPA [Internet]. [cited 2018 Feb 21]. Available from: http://doaj.org/bestpractice.
2. Elsevier. Publication ethics and malpractice statement requirements (June 2015) [Internet]. Amsterdam (Netherlands): Elsevier; c2018. [cited 2018 Feb 21]. Available from: https://www.elsevier.com/__data/assets/word_doc/0018/116082/pems_june15.docx.
3. International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing, and publication of scholarly work in medical journals [Internet]. [cited 2018 Feb 21]. Available from: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/.
4. Lee MJ, Yang GE, Chueh HW, Park JH, Yoo JH. The effect of first nocturnal ejaculation timing on risk and sexual behaviors of Korean male adolescents. Ann Pediatr Endocrinol Metab 2017;22:43–8.

Article information Continued

Table 1.

Compliance of the Annals of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (joint statement by COPE, DOAJ, WAME, and OASPA; http://doaj.org/bestpractice) [1]

No. Item Subitems Corresponding URL, or content
1 Website Aims & scope https://e-apem.org/about/index.php
Readership
Authorship criteria https://e-apem.org/authors/ethics.php
ISSN pISSN:2287-1012,eISSN:2287-1292
https://e-apem.org/
2 Name of journal https://e-apem.org/
3 Peer review process https://e-apem.org/authors/authors.php
Method of peer review Double blind peer review, https://e-apem.org/authors/authors.php
4 Ownership and management https://e-apem.org/about/index.php
5 Governing body Editorial boards https://e-apem.org/about/editorial.php
6 Editorial team/contact information https://e-apem.org/about/editorial.php
https://e-apem.org/about/contact.php
7 Copyright and licensing https://e-apem.org/authors/copyright_transfer_agreement.php
https://e-apem.org/about/open_access.php
8 Author fees https://e-apem.org/authors/processing_charge.php
9 Process for identification of and dealing with allegations of research misconduct Step to prevent research misconduct https://e-apem.org/authors/ethics.php
COPE’s guideline https://e-apem.org/authors/ethics.php
10 Publication ethics Authorship and contributor-ship https://e-apem.org/authors/ethics.php
Complaints and appeal https://e-apem.org/authors/authors.php
Conflicts of interest https://e-apem.org/authors/ethics.php
Ethical oversight (research ethics, informed consent, IRB) https://e-apem.org/authors/ethics.php
Intellectual property https://e-apem.org/authors/copyright_transfer_agreement.php
Postpublication discussions via letters to the editor https://e-apem.org/authors/authors.php#1
11 Publishing schedule Quarterly https://e-apem.org/about/index.php
12 Access https://e-apem.org/about/open_access.php
13 Archiving https://e-apem.org/authors/authors.php
14 Revenue sources Society and authors’ fee, https://e-apem.org/authors/processing_charge.php
15 Advertising https://e-apem.org/authors/advertising.php
16 Direct marketing https://e-apem.org/authors/authors.php

COPE, Committee on Publication Ethics; DOAJ, Directory of Open Access Journals; WAME, World Association of Medical Editors; OASPA, Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association; IRB, institutional review board.

Table 2.

Institutional review board (IRB) approval, receipt of informed consent, and study design of the original articles published in the Annals of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism in 2017

Study design No. of articles IRB approval Informed consent*
Chart review 13 10 8
Cross-sectional study 3 3 1
Cohort study 1 1 0
Online survey 1 0 0
Total 18 14 9
*

Obtained or waived.